Drawing Bouncer

PublishedFebruary 24, 2014

Creating Bouncer was fun, challenging, and I‘m very proud of the result.

I knew going into the drawing process that I wanted the shape of the character to resemble the shape of the paper toy. At this point, the paper toy was nearing it‘s final shape, but still needed a face and details.

I tried to draw Bouncer multiple times, usually not getting too far. Some of the drawings looked less like a kangaroo and more like a rabbit. Others were begun, but looked too childish for what I was trying to do with Sotare. There was a wall between my idea and the results I was getting.

Trying to get the head shape to mirror the paper toy was proving to be the biggest challenge. I also wanted the drawing of Bouncer to be similar to the paper toy when it came to the proportions of the head and the body. The difficult thing for me, was trying to accomplish this without it seeming like the angle was above, looking down on the character. In the early sketches, you can see the roots of Bouncer starting to take shape, but still being far away.

As an artist, my biggest struggle is to take something in my brain and draw it. I’m not sure how to explain it, but sometimes I can see things in my mind, but translating it to paper proves to be an impossible task. I’m not quite sure what this disconnect is or why it exists or even sometimes how to overcome it.

Then, one day I was at my computer and something struck me like a bolt of lighting. Something finally clicked and made sense. I quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and sketched out a rough version of Bouncer. I was extremely satisfied with drawing. It was as if the image in my head finally was transferred to paper.

A few weeks later I took the time to redraw Bouncer, with the aid of a light box, and correct some of his flaws.

Once this was done, it was time to scan, ink, and digitally color him. I like to use Inkscape for this process. I really enjoy the ease of use, the line tracing results, and the way you can use nodes for variable line thickness. I like to add highlights and shadows to really help the character pop. This takes more time, but the detail it adds is so worthwhile.

Some people have said that Bouncer looks angry, and maybe he does. But I don’t think he is angry, although maybe he is. I’d like to think that Bouncer is just trying to look tough. After all, he and his best friend Joey have to keep the villains and monsters at bay!